Ban on women deployment to Saudi proposed in House

THE HOUSE committee on overseas worker affairs (OWA) will recommend the ban of deployment of women domestic helpers in the Middle East nation due to reported abuses of Filipina migrant workers, Akbayan Rep. Walden F. Bello, chairman of the committee, said.

“We will definitely consider some ways of strongly influencing a ban on deployment of domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia,” Mr. Bello said in a phone interview yesterday.

He added that the committee will either seek an executive order directing the Department of Foreign Affairs and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) or ask congressmen to advise constituents against seeking employment in Saudi Arabia.

The team, composed of Reps. Cresente C. Paez (Cooperative-National Confederation of Cooperatives party-list), Maria Carmen Zamora-Apsay (1st district, Compostela Valley) and Emmeline Y. Aglipay (Democratic Independent Workers Association party-list), had visited Philippine government-operated shelters for distressed migrant workers in Riyadh, Jeddah and Alkhobar.

The team also held dialogues with officials from the Philippine Consulate in the different areas and members of overseas Filipino worker organizations.

The group is poised to submit its report, including recommendations, on the plight of Filipino migrant workers in that country for approval of the committee on OWA and the Joint Oversight Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs for passage of legislation to protect Filipino migrants in Middle East, Mr. Bello said.

“The testimonies of the women in the shelters revealed in many cases a situation of virtual slavery,” Mr. Bello said

“A working day of 18 to 22 hours, constant threat of sexual abuse from employers to whom the women gave the term maniacs, and beatings, sometimes with the use of hot irons, by the wife of the employer,” he noted.

Mr. Bello said other equally important concerns migrant groups raised are repatriation of workers, Pag-IBIG housing fund and Filipinos in detention centers. — Noemi M. Gonzales, Businessworld